Success of National Women's Team evidenced in Cics Cymru Project
About FAW
14 June 2018

Success of National Women's Team evidenced in Cics Cymru Project

Evidence that the heroic efforts of Wales’ senior women are inspiring a new generation of girls is seen in our Cics Cymru project.

Cics Cymru

For details of how to get involved in a Cics Cymru session near you, head to www.fawtrust.cymru

The innovative project, which aims to get 500 new girls into football, is off to a flying start.

In Wrexham alone, 325 new youngsters have joined in the sessions, mainly aimed at girls and those from deprived areas.

Hundreds of children from the football-mad town attended the open-training session held by Ryan Giggs’ senior mens’ squad last month and the excitement continues to grow.

Just a stone’s throw from Wrexham FC’s Racecourse ground, where that session was held, is Ysgol Morgan Llwyd.

The day after Jayne Ludlow's team's heroics against Russia, every girl in Year 8 joined in an entertaining Cics Cymru session, run by the club’s Racecourse Foundation.

One of those was 12-year-old Lily, who said: “Watching the Wales women’s team has been amazing.I was screaming at the TV when they beat Russia!

“I just hope to be out there playing with them one day.”

The football fanatic hopes the informal sessions will continue to inspire her friends to join her on the pitch.

She said: “Playing football is an amazing thing. It would be great if more girls got involved.”

Former Wales international Sam Ricketts is now first team manager at Wrexham. He was delighted by what he saw at the informal school session, saying: “We’re a community club and we want everybody to enjoy football, regardless of race or gender.

“The amount of children taking part here shows the passion for football in this area and the unique opportunity we have to grow the game.

“Welsh football is going from strength to strength. The men’s team started it at Euro 2016 and now the women are driving the game forward. It’s fantastic.”

The ambitious programme, which aims to attract 450 new girls to football, is run by seven clubs across Wales, Bala Town, Caernarfon Town, Llandudno FC, Wrexham AFC, The New Saints, Merthyr Town and Carmarthen Town. 

FAW Trust Football Development Manager Mike Parry said: “We’ve had some fantastic successes so far, especially in some of Wales’ most deprived areas and rural communities.”

FAW Trust CEO Neil Ward added: “The aim of this project is to improve young people’s physical activity and health through football.

“We’re targeting 1,800 young people, aged 12 to 16, who wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to play.

“We’re delighted to have engaged nearly 1,000 youngsters already, more than 300 of those here in Wrexham, which is a tremendous effort.”